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Sometimes a fun time, sometimes a dull time, but overall acceptable. The performances and the writing were somewhat questionable, with Gabriela Vergara definitely being the standout. The screenwriter being Mexican was noticeable, since the Colombian actors who were visibly filming in Bogotá would randomly speak like Mexicans sometimes. The premiere set this telenovela up as a campy over the top experience that should not be taken too seriously, but did not keep up with that energy, lowering the levels of fun considerably and recovering only occasionally. The premise was full of tropes and a bit basic, this could very easily be a series marketed for teenagers with Disney original levels of acting instead of a telenovela, I was confused as to what the target audience was supposed to be. More so than just "being beautiful", which is a rather shallow reading of its themes, I really enjoyed how it dabbled in the concept of identity + perception of the self (with Juliana having inner debates trying to draw the line between the concepts of Juliana and of Maritza, what is actually and me and what isn't) as well as mother-daughter relationships as complex as they are in real life, and motherhood in general (most specifically in Regina and Luzmila). Even though she didn't particularly excel at any of all of the very different roles she played, Paola Rey showed that she DOES have the range in character work, even if not so much so when it comes to acting. This could be her thesis. The character of Marcos was so stupid that it kept going back and forth from annoying to laughable, going to borderline horror film acting. All in all, it should have been campier and done more of what they did in the premiere and the finale, but also definitely bettered the levels of acting and the plot. Oh and the editing was atrocious, it features the worst montage I remember seeing in any telenovela. Wouldn't recommend watching but wouldn't recommend skipping either. It's fine.

Not only did this series not have any sort of plot, but whatever traces of a plot it did have were unnecesarily portrayed in the most overcomplicated way possible. The acting was sometimes nice yet mostly not good. The storytelling was garbage and gave me literal headaches, only to make me stop caring about whatever was going on about halfway through. They would try to force and build up all of this mystery that felt straight out of an anime, I've seen Detective Conan episodes achieve this vibe and pull it off greatly, but when it's done with actual people with Argentinian accents, it just looks stupid. For a "telenovela", if you will, with so few episodes, so much time was wasted on things like celebrity cameos, which made the pacing of the "storytelling" feel even worse. There's no main character even when it's SO meta about Mirtha Legrand. The science didn't make any sense, just like the business stuff. And don't even get me started on its portrayal of lesbians. The only redeemable things are Mirtha Legrand's outfits and Brenda Gandini's performance (and her outfits sometimes too - her character had a very clear misunderstanding of what appropriate business attire means and I enjoyed it).

There's definitely good reason as to why many people think this is Sabatini's best work, even being the favorite telenovela of some of the actors in this. The best thing about it was definitely the cast and the visible amount of dedication that went into character work here. Everyone had well-defined and specific personalities, but unfortunately the characters' motivations were a little one-dimensional sometimes. This continues the trend (that I like) of Sabatini's stupid male characters as opposed to the traditional idealized heroic men of telenovelas, but Martín Echaurren takes this way too far. His character was pathetic and insufferable, and we're supposed to root for him and for the title character to fall in love with him. The cast comes really in handy to save this plot that seemed rushed and efortless: many things are introduced only to then not mean anything, many conflicts or actions are flat out nonsense and a better written script with regards to continuity and any sort of semblance of a reality would have totally helped. The main villain, Magdalena, needed a different treatment in my opinion: they needed to make her either meaner, or not as mean. The anagnorisis moment nearing the end was certainly underwhelming and it ended up feeling like Pasión de Gavilanes but without a pathos. The set design and costume design deserve their kudos as well because they rightfully took a decent amount of the budget and it paid off. I wonder if this was sort of the inspiration for Machos because there are enough similarities (intransigent patriarch, painter doing nude female portraits, father-son sharing a lover, huge painting of a father that the son sometimes talks to, sex-affecting anxiety...), which is funny considering that Héctor Noguera was supposed to play Pedro Chamorro at first. Glad he didn't because Alarcón slays this character! Cheers to DJ Katia and Amelia Cox too-